Posted on 12/30/2001 10:35:09 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
Edited on 05/07/2004 7:08:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
With the FBI issuing alerts, what should American's do to protect themselves? We have all heard that we should be observant and report strange events to the police. In the last weeks, other things have been added to the list, such as be careful of letters with powdery substances. Yet, one option has not been encouraged. News articles mention the large increase in gun sales that have taken place since Sept. 11, but fail to mention the benefits and belittle those who buy the guns. We could learn something about responding to terrorism from Israel, and encourage more ordinary, responsible citizens to carry guns.
(Excerpt) Read more at detnews.com ...
Yep
Talk about narrow minded…
No, grounded in reality.
Classic liberal attitude in a nutshell. Irrational fear of guns, irrational fear of fellow citizens, and wants nanny government to ease their fear. The only way to address your fears is to do it yourself. Learn more about guns, get one for yourself, take responsibility for yourself and your family, don't expect nanny government to do it for you, it can't. Not only do you have the right, you have the obligation.
Get you facts straight. Oops, first get some facts.
Buying a gun today is harder than it was in 1963, but we seem to have more problems today than in 1963 when anyone could mail order anything. Obviously it isn't gun availablity that causes the problems.
So easy for a kid to find his parent's gun and shoot himself or his classmates.
It happens. It is a criminal act. % gallon buckets kill more children than do home gun accidents. If you have fright, be frightened of buckets. And swimming pools. And skateboards.
Yes, gun don't kill people, but it's less easy for people to kill or for their kids to have an accident if we make sure it's not so easy to get one.
First off, what is 'easy' about getting a gun and since criminals don't usually buy guns a retail, making it harder for a citizen to do so is simply wrong strategy. Second, guns are used on over 2 million self defense situations every year, most without firing a shot. The mere display of a gun wards off the attacker. I've experienced this personally.
Do you really know what is like to go through a school mass shooting? I do. The gun did NOT leave it's rightful owner's home, walk itself to school, and fire itself into a crowd of kids. A criminally minded kid chose to become a murderer in order to make a wierd statement. Remember, those terrorists who killed thousands on 9-11 did so without a single gun.
If safety is the focus, then guns should not be the target. If guns are the target, then safety is not the focus.
Get you facts straight. Oops, first get some facts.
Buying a gun today is harder than it was in 1963, but we seem to have more problems today than in 1963 when anyone could mail order anything. Obviously it isn't gun availablity that causes the problems.
So easy for a kid to find his parent's gun and shoot himself or his classmates.
It happens. It is a criminal act. % gallon buckets kill more children than do home gun accidents. If you have fright, be frightened of buckets. And swimming pools. And skateboards.
Yes, gun don't kill people, but it's less easy for people to kill or for their kids to have an accident if we make sure it's not so easy to get one.
First off, what is 'easy' about getting a gun and since criminals don't usually buy guns a retail, making it harder for a citizen to do so is simply wrong strategy. Second, guns are used on over 2 million self defense situations every year, most without firing a shot. The mere display of a gun wards off the attacker. I've experienced this personally.
Do you really know what is like to go through a school mass shooting? I do. The gun did NOT leave it's rightful owner's home, walk itself to school, and fire itself into a crowd of kids. A criminally minded kid chose to become a murderer in order to make a wierd statement. Remember, those terrorists who killed thousands on 9-11 did so without a single gun.
If safety is the focus, then guns should not be the target. If guns are the target, then safety is not the focus.
This column was excerpted from the Los Angeles Daily News (June 5, 1998):
Advocates of gun control have been thrown into a tizzy. Instead of going after guns sold out of automobile trunks in the inner city, they are forced politically to deal with the hunting guns used by kids in the rural shootings
In 1992, 55 killings occurred in America's schools. In 1997 it was down to 25. By contrast, 88 people were killed by lightning in 1997. Schiraldi [Director of the Center for Justice Policy Institute] says he hates to see rural schools start spending money on metal detectors and security guards instead of books.
"It's the functional equivalent of everyone buying lightning rods," he says.
... Above all consider that while the homicide rate in the United States dropped 20 percent between 1992 and 1996, the number of homicides reported on network news increased by 721 percent.
It's good for ratings, even if it may be bad for the psyches of children, voters and politicians. Fear sells. Kids are impressionable and may become copycats. Adults are impressionable and may pass bad laws.
The following is excerpted from a Los Angeles Times Opinion column (May 31, 1998, where emphasis appears, it has been added):
Of 20 million middle-school and high-school students, fewer than a dozen have killed at school this year. Of 20,000 secondary schools nationwide, only about 10 have reported a murder on campus...
The school shootings by students over the last eight months killed 11 youths and six adults. That is fewer kids than are murdered by parents , and fewer adults than are killed by partners, in just two days of household violence in the United States.
The president struggles to "make sense of the senseless" student shootings. His struggle should expand beyond "youth violence"-- which comprises 13% of violent crime and 8% of murder...On the day of the Jonesboro, Ark, school killings, a Daly City, Calif. mother was arrested for suffocating her three children with duct tape. A few days after the West Paducah, Ky., student shootings, three West Virginia parents were arrested for burning down their house, deliberately immolating five children. The day after the Springfield, Ore. school cafeteria massacre, an Arleta [Calif.] mother was arrested for murdering her two young children and burying them in the national forest.
Recent studies estimate that gunplay at school kills 20 to 30 youths a year, though there is no evidence the toll is higher today than in the past. By contrast studies...show that 2,000-3,000 children and youths are murdered each year by parents or caretakers, a toll that clearly is rising. Annual surveys... report that weapons-related violence in schools is no higher today than in the 1970s. But the rate of children being murdered by their parents doubled during that time.
In response to the school shootings, the president wants to enhance children's safety. But his own agencies' figures show that the best way to do that would be to target the American family. Three of four young murder victims- 90% of them under age 12 and 70% of them aged 12-17 are killed by adults, not by juveniles.
Odds and statistics are of no comfort to those victimized by violence, to be sure. But larger policy, resource allocation and academic analysis should focus on the biggest dangers to kids. The Clinton administration's own agencies have assembled reams of ignored statistics showing that today's teens are being raised by a parent generation displaying exploding rates of domestic violence, property crime, drug offenses, addiction and family instability...
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Maybe it's not the guns.
Concealed is the key. While I was working security details some years ago with my Dad...my favorite concealment t-shirt was an old one, with a rainbow peace sign. I also tend to wrap small "pocket" pistols in paper money, topped-off by more, deliberately crumpled ones....to drop, diverting attention, while the main "wad" makes its appearance. Nothing like cash to distract a crook! I also find the bills aid a smooth draw, preventing the hammer from catching on clothing.
Experience is the best teacher...and I was blessed by some old timers' advice early on. I am trying to continue the favor. 'Worked for me...thank God.
Very ingenious, I've not heard this idea before!
There is nothing more sexy than a man who states the truth, plain and simple.
John Lott...what a guy!
To people in Washington and to the gun control advocates my life may just be a statistic or number to them and they don't care and they use those numbers to add to their irrational conclusions. But to me my life is precious and worth protecting before I'm killed. And if you are killed, who says that even justice will be done?
I had a home invasion about 10 years ago. I was unarmed and I got beat up pretty bad. I'm lucky to be alive. The police came and they asked me a lot of questions, but did not find the criminal. The police would not even respond to my inquiries about the progress of the investigation. They did nothing. The gun control advocates and our congress critters sure didn't care. Something like this only has to happen to you once and you learn that the police cannot protect you, believe me. They are a deterrent. Gun ownership is also a deterrent and CCW is even a better deterrent. It makes it really risky for the criminals.
To these gun-control kooks, I say..."I don't believe you. You are liars and propagandists. You hate life. You hate people. You want the rest of us to suffer for your guilt. Get a life."
Where do these mindless twits come from? Do they honestly think that they can dumb down this forum???
... one question at a time, please. ;-)
I just thought it's time to share with my friends...who have proven their rationality on this forum.
Here's a few for the archives...
SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE -- November 22, 1999
The robbery of the Firing Pin Gun Shop at 318 N. Fifth St., Niles, is the South Bend Area Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week.
Lt. Dave Shock said that on Nov. 4 shortly before 3 p.m., two black men entered the shop and forced the owner at gunpoint into a rear office along with four customers. The robbers removed several semi-automatic pistols and revolvers from the display cases and emptied the cash register. The men then fled in a light-colored vehicle.
Anyone who calls Crime Stoppers this week about this crime could receive a $1,000 reward upon arrest or indictment.
(I removed a lot of contact info for the local crime stoppers.)
The Richmond Times Dispatch -- February 18, 2000
SUFFOLK An unarmed man wearing a ski mask was shot in the shoulder while trying to rob a firearms shop in downtown Suffolk, police said.
According to police, the man entered the Southern Gun Works store just before noon Wednesday, leaped over the counter and tried to grab clerk Michael P. Coughlin.
Coughlin, 38, stepped out of reach, pulled a pistol from his belt and fired one shot that struck the masked man in the upper right arm, said Suffolk Police Department spokesman Michael Simpkins. Coughlin then called police, who took the suspect into custody and then to Obici Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition yesterday.
Antron Brown, 19, of Oak Forest Lane, was charged with attempted robbery and wearing a mask in public late Wednesday afternoon, said Simpkins. No charges will be filed against Coughlin.
Coughlin and Richard Carroll, owner of Southern Gun Works, refused to discuss the robbery attempt.
But the shooting has been the talk of the town and beyond.
"A gun shop is the last place I'd hold up, especially without a gun," said Richard Harris, owner of FireArms Sales Co., another Suffolk dealer.
A National Rifle Association spokeswoman, when contacted about the incident, laughed before refusing comment.
An official from Handgun Control, a Washington-based gun-control group, said Coughlin's use of a firearm sounded justified.
"Perhaps, in this situation, using a handgun was justified," said Nancy Hwa, the organization's spokeswoman. "But would I recommend that all small business owners go out and buy a gun? Absolutely not. For every successful robbery thwarted there are dozens of cases of innocent bystanders being shot," she asserted.
Some merchants said robberies at gun shops aren't that unusual.
J. Michael Dick, owner of Guns Unlimited in Carrollton said his store has been robbed several times over the years.
"Once a robber came in, grabbed a gun across the counter and ran out of the store," Dick said. "I went after him and tried to catch him but I couldn't. He had a whole lot of speed on me."
Gun shop owners almost have to keep loaded weapons close at hand, Harris and Dick said.
"Employees and management at gun shops almost always carry sidearms just in case something like this happens," Harris said.
Chicago Tribune September 22, 1998 Tuesday, SOUTHWEST SPORTS FINAL EDITION
Police were searching Monday for two suspects believed to possess 25 to 30 automatic pistols stolen during the robbery of a Glenwood gun shop in which a father and son were killed.
Meanwhile, a judge ordered the four men charged in the slayings held without bond until a hearing Oct. 7, said a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. The four, arrested Saturday morning, are charged each with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of armed robbery. Illinois State Police and Glenwood police are looking for two more suspects, who authorities believe received half of the weapons stolen in Friday's robbery. About 25 handguns and assault rifles were recovered at the Harvey home of one murder suspect, said Sgt. Alex DiMare of the Glenwood police.
Police believe the remaining suspects were not involved in the robbery and shootings, but received the missing weapons.
A witness identified the getaway car, and police said they traced it to the men facing murder charges: Kendal Merriweather, 18, of 7202 S. Lowe Ave.; his brother Michael Merriweather, 21, of 206 W. 154th St., Harvey; Kenneth Bryant, 20, of 215 W. 154th St., Harvey; and Rashe Poplar, 17, of 1013 E. 194th St., Glenwood.
Salvatore "Bud" Pennella, 66, of Northlake and his son Raymond Pennella, 38, of Elmhurst were about to close the popular gun store, at 135 E. Main St., Friday night when the robbers entered and posed as customers, police said.
One of the men brandished a gun and shot the elder Pennella several times, police said. The gunman then shot the younger Pennella as he stood behind a display case, police said.
A customer was shot, but fell to the floor and feigned death while the robbers looted the shop, police said. He was hospitalized, but released during the weekend.
The Denver Post -- April 23, 1998
Armed robbery at gun shop Armed bandits duct-taped a clerk at his gun shop on South Federal Boulevard, then stole at least four assault rifles and numerous handguns plus ammunition. They escaped after the clerk freed himself and fired a shotgun at them, reported Undersheriff Grayson Robinson.
Deputies were called to Cal's Sporting Armory, just north of Hampden Avenue, about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The clerk told deputies that two black men - dressed alike in dark blue baseball caps, blue work shirts with gray piping on the sleeves and dark blue work trousers - entered the store about 7 p.m., pulled a large caliber handgun on him, then removed the weapons. The clerk freed himself, grabbed a loaded shotgun kept in the store and fired one shot at the two.
The Washington Post -- December 11, 1997
Police say two gunmen entered the Beltsville Sports Center, in the 11600 block of Baltimore Avenue, about 10:15 a.m. and forced the shopkeeper to the rear of the store, where they tied him up. They gathered 30 to 50 handguns and rifles in a duffel bag and fled, police said. The storekeeper managed to free himself, retrieve a handgun and give chase, firing several shots.
About 10:30 a.m., police in Montgomery County stopped a car with expired temporary tags in the 3600 block of Castle Terrace.
The two men in the car pulled over and ran. The passenger was apprehended within minutes, police said, and the driver was caught about an hour later, with the help of the Takoma Park police canine unit.
A duffel bag with about 30 handguns was found in the car, police said.
The People -- August 24, 1997
By David Brown
It's the most unwanted prize of the year...but dozens of dead certs are already battling it out for the title.
The 1997 Darwin Award - named after 19th Century naturalist Charles Darwin - is given to the person who DIES in the wackiest way. The first award - in 1995 - went to an American who was crushed by a Coke vending machine...but the story was later found to be a myth. A spokesman for the contest, run on the Internet, said: "The awards are given to the individual or individuals who remove themselves from the gene pool in the most spectacular fashion."
Today we reveal the latest contenders...
Dopey David Zaback made a fatal mistake by mounting an armed robbery - on a gun shop.
Zaback, 33, went ahead with his botched plan while a police car was parked outside and crackshot officer Timothy Lally, 49, was sipping coffee at the shop counter.
The store in Renton, near Seattle, Washington, was also packed with customers carrying guns.
Zaback burst in, demanded money, fired a few wild shots - and was cut down in a hail of bullets.
Blacksmith Vladmir Boronov, 56, who had used a live artillery shell as an anvil for 10 years at Irkutsk, Russia, was blown to bits when a hammer blow finally set it off.
Sylvester Briddell won a wager with his friends over a game of Russian roulette.
Sylvester, 26, of Selbyville, Delaware, US, put a revolver loaded with four bullets in his mouth.
They bet he would not pull the trigger.
Sylvester won the money but didn't get a chance to spend it.
A security man who asked a colleague at a Moscow bank to stab his bullet- proof vest to see if it was knife-proof died when the blade went straight through into his heart.
Chinese farm worker Zhao Jun's intestines burst as he tried to scoff an eighth bowl of gruel to win a bet for a carton of cigarettes.
Greengrocer Hassan Anas, 40, of Palestine, was killed when a grenade he used to weigh vegetables exploded as a blacksmith added extra iron to make it a more accurate weight.
Melany Campos, 60, who had 40 abandoned dogs at her home in Los Angeles, was suffocated when four large bags of pet food fell on her.
Village chieftain Chom Inchan, 48, was killed when he fired a rocket into the air in Thailand to ask the Gods to provide water - and the missile hurtled back and smashed into his head.
Bungee jumper Eric Barcia, 22, hurled himself off a 70ft platform and hit the pavement at Reston, Virginia, - because the rope was longer than the distance between the platform and the ground.
The croaked candidates have a long way to go to beat last year's champion.
Lawyer Gary Hoy, 39, used to demonstrate the safety of windows in a Toronto skyscraper where he worked by hurling himself against the glass.
Visitors watched in horror as he smashed straight through a window and plunged 24 floors.
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